Process for sealing shafts or wells



W. E. EMERY. PROCESS FOR SEALING SHAFTS O-R WELLS.

AP PL|CAT|0N FILED SEPT. 19, I918.

Patented Oct. 25, 1921.

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OFFICE,

WALTER E. -E MERX, OF PEORIA, ILLINOIS.

PROCESS FOR SEALING SHAETS OB WELLS.

mantis To all whom z'fimay concern:

Be it known that I, VVALTER E. EMERY, a citizen of the United States, residing at I Peoria, in the county of Peoria, State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Process for Sealing Shafts or WVells; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use'the same.

The present invention relates to a process of sealing a water bearingstrata which may be encountered whensinking a shaft or making an excavation, and has for its object to providea means whereby'the' inflow of water from the water bearingstrataican be checked and held under control so that the excavation can be proceeded with and the inflow of water kept under control by any conventional pumping means. When sinking a shaft into the ground for the purpose of mining coal, ore or other substances, for

the purpose of obtaining oil, gas or water,

or for any other purpose, it sometimes happens that the shaft is inundated by an uncontrollable flow of water from a strata of water bearing earth which is encountered. hen this happens the usual pumps are not sufficient to remove the water, and the shaft must either be abandoned or excavation continued at'considerable expense by the vacuum and plenum processes. Fur- *thermore, many operating mines have to be abandoned because anuncontrollable flow of water develops in some strata, and sections of mines have to be sealed up andabandoned for similarreasons, the coal, mineral or other ore contained in those portions of the mme which are cut off being thus forever lost. This process aims to ellminate much of th1s loss by providing an nexpensive and effective means whereby a cement barrier can be formed around thesha'ft or excavation at the zone where it is intersected by the water bearing strata, thereby cutting off the excess flow of water and 'enabling the water within the excavation to be held under control by the usual pumps.

Also in the case of open air coder-dams for foundations considerable difiiculty is encountered by reason of the water coming.

up through the bottom of the excavation during the progress of the work and the lowering or driving of the coffer-dam, and after the excavation has been completed the Specification of Letters Patent.

and thevarious steps inci Patented Oct. 25, 1921.

Application filed September 19, 1918. Serial No. 254,714.-

the manner in which the process is utilized to seal a water bearing strata which is encountered when sinking the shaft.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional 'view .on the line 22 of Fig. .1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectionalview through a cotter dam in connection with which the sealing process is utilized Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view :on the line 3-3 of Fig. 3;

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description :and indicated in all the views .of' the :drawings lby'the same reference characters.

Referring to Figs. land 2 :of the drawing, the reference character A designates a vertically disposed shaft which has been partially sunk into the ground. This shaft has been successfully excavated downwardly through the different earth formations encountered until a water bearing strata B has been reached. A strata C of rock or some hard formation is located immediately below the water bearing strata B, and in order to reach the coal or other'mineral it 'is necessary to sink the shaft down through the water bearing strata B and the hard strata C. However, when the water bearing strata B is reached the shaft is flooded with an uncontrollable flow of water. The usual pumps are not capable of handling this water, and ordinarily it would be necessary either to abandon the shaft or to resort to the expensive vacuum and plenum pro cesses. Accorcling to the present process a series of small holes 1 are bored in the water bearing strata B around the periphery of the proposed excavation. These small holes are ordinarily two inches or three inches in diameter, and the spacing between the holes to the shaft or excavation, as indicated at 1, or may be inclined and arranged at any necessary angle thereto, as indicated at 1. If it is desired to continue the excavation of the shaft to the full dimensions, it may be found desirable to enlarge or undercut a portion of the shaft slightly above the water bearing strata, as indicated at 3, thereby enabling the holes 1 and 1 to be bored outside around the proposed area of excavation. A

tube or pipe 4 may be conveniently used for filling the holes with the cement grout, the end of the pipe being initially inserted into each hole to the bottom thereof, and gradually withdrawn as the hole is filled, and compressed air may b utilized to subject the cement grout to pressure so that it will thoroughly percolate through the earth formation surrounding the openings. A box 5 is shown as arranged at the upper end of the pipe or tube 4, and this box may be closed so that airpressure' may be maintained therein when desired. After the holes have been filled with grout the workis left for a period of time and the grout allowed to set and harden. 'The water is then pumped out and the excavation continued, the grout which has been caused to percolate through the earth formation surrounding the holes being sufficient to cooperate therewith to form a continuous concrete or cement wall 10 extending around the periphcry of the excavation and stopping the great rush of water from the water bearing strata into the shaft. Of course, the flow of water may not be entirely stopped, but further appliration of the process may be resorted to where the How of water is still excessive, andthe flow of water can be cut off to such an extent that the usual pumps will be suflicient to keep the water under control. This provides an inexpensive means whereby many shafts can be saved'which would otherwise have to be abandoned after the expenditure of a large amount of money and labor in partially sinking the same.

Figs. 3 and 4: of the drawing show the process as applied to a coffer-da-m D. Vertical openings 7 are formed in an annular series around the oofiier-dam, and the lower portions of these openings are filled with cement rout, exactly as in the previous instance. %ressure is applied to the grout so that it will percolate through the surrounding earth, with the result that after it has been allowed to harden and set an annular concrete wall or barrier 8 is provided around the base of the coffer-dam. This will prevent any uncontrollable flow of water and enable the work to be carried on in a most effective manner without any interference or without the necessity of working under unfavorable conditions. 7

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In the art of sinking wells, the process of sealing off a water bearing stratawhich consists in boring a series of holes'which extend downwardlyflthrough the strata and are arranged in a series around the shaft, the upper ends of the holes being in communication with the shaft,gfilling the holes with a cement grout, and subjecting the grout to pressure whereby it is caused to percolate into the surrounding earth and to cooperate therewithto form a cement barrier around the periphery of the shaft.

2. In the art of sinking wells, the process of sealing off a water bearing strata, which consists in annularly enlarging the shaft above the water bearing strata, boring an annular series of holes downwardly through the water bearing strata from the enlarged portion of the shaft, said holes being arranged outside of the proposed dimensions of the shaft and in a peripheral series around the same, filling the holes with acement grout, and subjecting the grout to pressure whereby it is caused to percolate through the surrounding earth and cooperate therewith to form a cement barrier around the shaft.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

, WALTER E. EMERY, Witnesses:

JOHN FITZGERALD,

MARIA A. EMERY. 

